Kuala Lumpur: Bursa Malaysia concluded its morning session on a firmer note as the benchmark index increased by 0.34 per cent, aligning with the positive sentiment observed in most regional markets. At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) saw an increase of 5.12 points, reaching 1,524.91, compared to Wednesday’s close of 1,519.79. The index began the day 0.45 points higher at 1,520.24, peaking at 1,526.24 during the session.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the broader market reflected an optimistic trend with 427 gainers surpassing 345 decliners, while 419 counters remained unchanged. Additionally, 1,247 counters were untraded and 102 were suspended. The market turnover was recorded at 1.57 billion units valued at RM978.65 million.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves noted that risk appetite remained steady, with Asian equities expected to reflect mixed trading due to month-end flows and hawkish statements from the US Federal Reserve affecting global macroeconomic price actions. During the lunch break, Singapore’s STI increased by 0.21 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose by 1.35 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index decreased by 0.48 per cent.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare each increased by one sen to RM9.80 and RM6.71, respectively. Public Bank remained stable at RM4.30, Tenaga Nasional gained two sen reaching RM14.26, and CIMB added four sen to RM6.81.

For active stocks, SNS Network dropped 1.5 sen to 54.4 sen, Borneo Oil decreased by half a sen to 0.5 sen, Green Ocean reduced by 2.5 sen to nine sen, Reservoir Link fell one sen to 21.5 sen, while YTL Corp climbed 11 sen to RM2.25.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 38.46 points to 11,385.02, the FBMT 100 Index went up by 39.20 points to 11,167.60, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased by 36.61 points to 11,338.39. Additionally, the FBM 70 Index advanced by 64.61 points to 16,425.94 and the FBM ACE Index edged higher by 7.60 points to 4,466.57.

In the sectoral performance, the Financial Services Index improved by 33.85 points to 17,696.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up by 1.38 points to 151.59, the Plantation Index increased by 13.01 points to 7,243.20, and the Energy Index gained 5.00 points to 733.11.